Time division multiple access (TDMA) telecommunication systems have a multiplicity of ground stations which communicate with one another by transmitting and receiving message signals via satellite. Prior art TDMA satellite communication systems generally operate principally in a duplex communication mode between respective pairs of ground stations. In order to correlate the operations of the many ground stations in this type of system, the transmission bursts from the several stations are synchronized to ensure that no overlap of signal bursts occurs even though the ground stations are located at such large distances from one another that significant propagation delay times exist between the various ground stations and the satellite transponder. The synchronization has been provided in the prior art by a fixed, principal reference station which transmits a reference burst to all other stations for synchronization of their respective local clocks. The prior art has addressed the problem of reference station failure by providing fixed, alternate reference stations which assume the reference station function when the loss of the original reference signal is detected. The limitation to principally duplex communication employed by these prior art fixed reference station systems has imposed limits on the data rates achievable for large volume, high speed digital communications in the network.